The kid’s family has money, therefore they don’t need Wes and Cal’s payoff. This, there is an equal playing field on this recruit. Poor Cow, will have to invest in another recruit with a poor background or a shady handler.

Weird recruiting day. We get the guy people are less sure of whose Dad played for one of his top schools. We lose the guy we’re more sure of whose Dad played at UK!

So what caused the apparent change of heart? Either Crean had a really good last pitch or maybe Blackmon just didn’t want to go to the same school as Booker, either for some personal reason or just a competition for playing time. Does anyone know the roster situation at IU as far as guards?

Oh well, coming into today I was prepared to get one of two, though frankly I thought it would be the other one of two! But we’ll be alright. Might be a good year for Cal to bring in a JUCO or senior transfer like Mays.

It sounds like the kid is going to bring a lot of stability to that program! LOL! He commits, decommits and recommits again, making a big show of it. I don’t think we need that kind of player. I think we got the better guy, high character, smart and obviously aware of how special it is to play at Kentucky. James Jr., T. Jones thought better about going somewhere else, had a change of heart and came here and won a title. Let me say that I don’t think you’ll be accomplishing the same thing at Indiana.

The rumors with these HOEsiers is he tried calling Devin Robinson who commited to Florida yesterday & more than likely teaming up with Jaquan Lyles at IU! End of the day who cares, give me Booker all day!

Well who do we have left to get now? Okafor? Turner? Lyles? I have a feeling next year is going to be another down year for UK basketball..I can’t seem to think about how bad last year was and seeing a repeat..

Guess if I was afraid to compete with another recruit and better myself I would go to iu too…… Oh wait! No I wouldn’t because I don’t want my coach trying to make out with me. Oh well, guess that’s what separates the Nat. Champ banner hangers and the round of 32 banner hangers.

FORGET Blackmon Jr he is overated anyway!! Booker is 10 time better and we do not need Lyles. Willis is the answer and the question, next year will be Ulis, Booker, Willis, Lee and Towns and we will WALK to #11 BBN! Unfollow Blackmon imediately but please no bashing this poor fool on twitter, that will onlye hurt us. So BBN we will rise to 40-0 this season then we take that starting 5 i mentioned and we cut down more nets C-A-T-S!!

How do you grow up in a UK household, the #1 program in the nation, providing the best chance to be prepared for and get drafted high for the NBA after 1-2 years… and then choose Indiana? I don’t get it, and am a little bitter. Oh well. Good luck to him. Seems to be a challenging year for recruiting for some reason.

This is only bad if it cost us getting Trey Lyles. Like I said earlier JB2 was ours till Booker made his announcement then JB2 prolly had to run to footlocker and buy an IU hat. I don’t mind losing JB2 since we did get Booker but I want UK to get Lyles and now we may not. Stanley Johnson is a must based on where other top guys seem to be headed.

Kinda odd that that he decommits …takes his visits…downplays Hoosiers visit . Then recommittes to Indiana on espn. Says could not see himself playing anywhere else… Then why decommit?… Hope this does not play out the same way for TL.

Keep it classy UK fans… We lost him…wish him good luck. I am pretty happy in getting Devin Booker. That’s a huge pick up for UK. I am also quite confident that Cal will get a couple of more really good players for the 2014 class. And I am excited about the leftovers from this year’s class that I think will be around for next year.

I think we got the better of these two guys. I don’t think he could have handled the bright lights of the best program in the country. Good luck with that mediocre program James. Hope it doesn’t make you mediocre.

This was a no brainer. He wants that shiny ring at the end of the season. Why go to a school that only gives out rings when you when the championship when you can go to a school that gives out rings just for getting to the Sweet 16. DUH!!!!

Bottom line your more like a trolling BOTTOM FEEDER. I’ve said it many times, if we’ve paid our players we’re not paying them enough. How come the kids good enough to be a one and done (the few they get) at UL, UNC, DUKE, Kansas and IU stay more than one year. The only answer they must pay better than we do.

He was never going to go anywhere else to play other than Indiana. He probably just felt that he missed out on all that comes with being recruited and wanted to enjoy the process. Sucks that he made Cal and the other coaches waste their time when they never had a chance.

I know it’s early and a lot of recruiting is left to be done, but it’s starting to like next year’s roster might be lacking in depth, ESPECIALLY in the backcourt.
PG: Uliss/Hawkins
SG: Booker
SF: ?
PF: Lee/Willis
C: Townes
Of course that’s presuming the Harrisons, Randle, Young, Poythress, Cauley-Stein, & Johnson all go pro after this year, which I don’t believe will be the case. But if it did happen, talk about a lot of holes left to fill with next year’s squad.

Cal had cooled on Blackmon once he sensed that Booker was going to commit to UK. Blackmon knew that he was the odd man out and he really had no choice but to go back to his original commit to IU. What is funny is that Booker had told Cal that he was a Cat no matter what Blackmon was going to do. This just proved to Cal that Booker was the player that the best fit for the program.

Good luck to him. Glad to have Booker. I just hope KSR doesn’t talk about him 1000 times over the next few months. Time to move on. UK will be fine. We have Ulis, Booker, and Towns. Lyles is down to UK and UL. Not sure if he adds IU or not now, but not sure why he would. If he does, it adds to the appeal for Turner. We’ll also have Lee. We’ll also have Willis. Additionally, a player not on the radar could come in. Cal will take care of things. Also, and I know he may go pro, but what if Exum wants to play college ball?

If we lose Lyles due to JB Jr’s faulty thought process, Cal should go hard after Turner. With what we now have coming in, and hopefully coming back, our PF and Center positions are almost interchangeable. Turner would be a great fit!

UK fans are never satisfied. We haven’t played a game yet this year, you’ve already decided who is leaving. What our starting line-up will be next year and we’ll be lucky to go 500 next year. The top 5 players in the class hasn’t made a choice yet and won’t til spring, we get just 1 of those players or Stanley Johnson and we have a top 3 class we get 2 of them and we may have the number 1 class again. Kids that are waiting til spring to sign may just be impressed what this current group does. On paper they go 40-0, but lets learn now what kind of people they are and if they play as a team like the 2012 group did.

Can’t say I blame him. Doesn’t make sense to have two shooting guards commit within hours of each other to the same school. I’m happy with Booker. Indiana should be happy with Blackmon. I guess he didn’t read the hundreds of derogatory posts about him on Peegs’ board starting from the day he de-committed.

I hope he has a good career there.. except when they play UK. He just better hope that Robert Johnson (the 4-star shooting guard already committed to the Hoosiers) doesn’t beat him out in practice.

Why do people keep mentioning how this will affect Trey Lyles? He’s not even considering IU. I don’t think he’s gonna pick UofL over UK all of a sudden just because Blackmon decided to recommit to IU. This Blackmon kid just really wasted everyone’s time, I hate being jerked around by a high school kid. Sounds like he just played the national media for his own benefit.

I just got on twitter to send JB Jr a congrats tweet and wish him well. Then I saw his most recent tweet, a pic of an IU Superman tearing his shirt off. I almost puked. I decided not to be magnanimous. I am now very happy he is not a Cat. Whew, we dodged a bullet.

If Booker didn’t pick us, all of you idiots would be bashing him. I swear, 95% of our fan base are complete morons. Just move on, no need in bashing a player just because he didn’t pick us. You sound ignorant and immature AF

Blackmon Jr has no spine and doesnt care about his own damn family! Lets move on to bigger and more talented recruits like Tre Lyles and Okafur/Turner. We need to start hunting down the big dogs and get Stanley Johsnon back in for a big game at Rupp with fewer blue hairs so he can see an intense atmosphere that he missed at BBM. We do not need this kid he is undersized anyway at 6’2 and I really think he is overrated compared to Booker and Uliss. We could still get Winslow and I think Willis could be All American next year he is a kentucky boy and bread and wow did he put on a show at Blue/White!

I don’t understand why folks think the kid “used this for his benefit”? He’s the #4 SG in an average class. He’s gonna be a 4 yr player and its not like scouts are clamoring to draft him or shoe companies are in the back rooms meeting and discussing of his first contract should be for $90 or 100 million.

He’s a nice player but if there’s some great benefit he’s gonna receive from all this one day I wish someone would enlighten me as to what it might be.

Other than a sweet sixteen banner, a chance for an ironic nickname like Big Sexy, or a chance to cut nets down for moral victories

It seems clear that he wanted to be “the man” and I have no doubt that Crean promised him that. He obviously wasn’t interested in the spotlight that UK provides nor having to earn PT. More power to him. He made the right decision for himself and us.

93) seriously? I mean I know Derek Willis hit a bunch of open 3s in the blue white game, but all American? Jesus man, come back to reality. He will be a solid contributor in a few years, but let’s not get crazy here

Art: All the added attention increased his profile. I know its a stupid reason to do what he did, but that’s what most young people care about these days. I for one knew virtually nothing about him until he decommitted from IU, so I guess it worked. Lol

They say, if you want to find the truth, follow the money.
I wonder If James Blackmon, Sr., a high school coach, will soon join Tom Creen’s staff?
Or maybe Junior has a brother who needs a scholarship?

It’s a bummer that a great fan base is often over shadowed by the idiots who post on here and other UK websites. Any one who makes a special point to attack an 18-year-old is a loser, plain and simple.

Mike got it right, all about attention. Get UK involved and you are a household name even if you don’t sign. He committed to a school, de-committed, then got to announce his college decision on national tv to the original school. These are just kid’s and when you have thousands hanging on your every word, I guess for many the attention gets almost addictive. Good luck to him, but most importantly congrats to Booker.

Funny how we’re so high on a guy when we think he’s a lock. Then when he goes somewhere else we didn’t need him anyway. BBN we need all of them. But i think Blackmon use UK for attention. And i wouldn’t be surprised if Lyle is doing the same. Crean could be putting these guys up to this.

To the uk fans who act like idiots and make bad comments about kids who go elsewhere to play basketball, I have to ask this question. Is basketball the only thing you have going for you, if uk was lousy year after year, how would you even exist in life? Good luck to Blackmon I say. And welcome to uk Booker. To the classy uk fans, stay classy.

Good luck, Jr. He is a four year player. I think he realized that he wouldn’t play a whole lot next year at UK. It would probably be year 3 before he would receive significant minutes. I believe UK will loose 4 to 6 players off a real deep team this year but we will get players back next year. Cal will end up signing 5-6 players this year to replace the walkons and those leaving early for the NBA. No matter what we are in a whole lot better situation than the later Tubby years and anytime during Billy Clydes tenture.

I just think the young man went where he thought he’d get the most PT, I can’t blame him for that. I hate Indiana almost as much as Louisville and that’s a lot, but an 18 kid has a right to make his own choice and PT is always going to be an issue at UK. Was he playing games with his recruitment? I have no idea, but I don’t hate recruits when they choose other schools. Who knows what promises are made by other coaches, and we all know that other coaches use Cal’s record of recruiting over current players against him. It’s the only legitimate weapon they have against him because he tries to recruit the very best every year. That being said, that is why he says UK is not for everybody and you have to earn your minutes. The supremely confident players or the ones with something to prove can handle the challenge, those who lack the confidence or want the game to be all about them can not. I wish Blackmon Jr. nothing but the best in his future, time will show us what kind of player he really is.